Government should get tough with scofflaws who pollute lakes

In my defence, it was a hot and sunny day and there have been few of those in the Eastern Townships in recent weeks. I stared at the hint of cloudiness in the lake for a while, deciding finally that it was sediment stirred up by days and days of rain and wind. In I went.

Within 24 hours my eyes were itching horribly. You've probably already made the connection, but the cloudiness must have done something to my brain. It wasn't until I saw a list of symptoms caused by exposure to blue-green algae that I realized what I'd done.

The symptoms, including headaches and irritated eyes, were described in a pamphlet handed out last weekend at a meeting in our local town hall. Residents were invited to a talk by a Quebec government representative, one of a number sent across the province to urge people to plant shrubs, bushes and trees along every shoreline they could find.

Nearly 50 people attended the meeting, a good turnout. They were all for replanting denuded shorelines. But they knew that was just part of the solution to the blue-green algae infestation. The main shoreline, a resident pointed out, was already about 80 per cent natural. Manicured lawns sweeping down to the water were few and far between.

The government representative wouldn't be drawn into anything beyond her specific task. Her job was to talk about plants - which ones should go where. The nitrate- and phosphorus-laden runoff from pig farms, cornfields, new golf courses, the inadequate penalties for ignoring government regulations - those problems were someone else's jurisdiction.

Leaving the meeting, I walked past a stream that flowed through the large lawn of a local resident. This person had in the past two years cut down all the vegetation along the stream's shoreline to create the lawn. Let's call this Exhibit A in How to Destroy a Lake. Exhibit B is a bit farther along. Within the past few years, this person had drained a large wetland, and built a large house and outbuildings.

Wetlands, as our government representative carefully explained to us, serve as nature's filtration system. The nitrates and phosphorus swept into the lake from surrounding fields can be absorbed, to some degree at least, if enough plants stand between them and the water.

Last year, as many as 200 Quebec lakes were found to be affected by blue-green algae. This year, the government decided to list only lakes deemed "dangerous." The list has dropped off precipitously - to five. This is unhelpful, to say the least, to residents trying to stay on top of the situation.

Our plant expert was a prong in the province's emergency plan to combat blue-green algae, announced earlier this year - a 10-year, $200-million plan.

The plan provides for, among other things, 15 additional environmental inspectors to enforce new regulations and support for 10 technological research and development teams. The plan also gives municipalities extra management powers over sewage disposal, allowing them to order residents to upgrade septic tanks or improve the tanks' drainage.

Most of the money attached to the plan - $145 million - will be given to farmers to get them to give up phosphate-laden fertilizers. Perhaps this is a reasonable allocation of funds, since these fertilizers are the main culprit in the blue-green algae drama.

But the $145 million is, presumably, in addition to the millions that the province's 1,800 pig farmers are expected to get this year from farm-income stabilization insurance. The insurance is funded 60 per cent by the federal government and 40 per cent by Quebec.

But rather than throwing yet more money at pig farmers claiming to be operating at a loss, the government could suggest they move into some other field of economic activity.

In fact, Quebec could be taking a tougher line all the way along. Forget fines of $1,000 or $2,000 for deliberately stripping a shoreline, go for real money. In cases of repeated, flagrant violation of rules designed to protect irreplaceable waterways for all Quebecers, put a big gun in the legislation: The power to confiscate land.

People who care about their environment will be out in numbers planting the million free trees Quebec is offering to anyone who'll get involved.

The others? I think the government could show a little more backbone in the fight against algae - before the lakes die.

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